


In This Chaos

by AMLKoko



Series: Trapped in Ice [2]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Reaper, Bethany Hawgrave - Freeform, Bittersweetness before Happy Ending, F/M, First Contact War, Fluff, Happy Ending, Healing, Imprisoned by Nature, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Romance, Interspecies Sex, Love Before Sex, Love Grows slowly, Mission Gone Wrong, Non-Reaper AU, Original Character(s), Original female human - Freeform, Rescuing Turians, Storm stayed, Tiberius Tercolus - Freeform, Trapped, original male turian - Freeform, soft, trapped together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:21:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29235993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AMLKoko/pseuds/AMLKoko
Summary: Bethany 'Beth' Hawgrave never expected life to throw a curve ball at her so quick or fast but it had. She certainly never expected the ball to be a giant turian who crash landed on the frozen planet she calls home. And she certainly never expected to nurse him back to health, nor did she ever once think she would end up falling in love.Tiberius Tercolus believed he had died and gone to the spirits but instead he found himself awake and under the care of a human, a creature he was supposed to hate and revile but as she tenderly and gently cared for his wounds, he found he couldn't. He found beauty in the human who saved his life and within her he saw a future he wanted with everything he had but he knew he could never get.Trapped together, Beth and Tiberus find love within each other on a distant planet, far from home but such a love cannot last outside of those walls and within the walls both know the countdown has started but letting go is hard, especially when you love with your everything and all.
Relationships: Bethany Hawgrave/Tiberius Tercolus, Original Female Human Character(s)/Original Male Turian Character(s)
Series: Trapped in Ice [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2100408
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

Beth Hawgrave pushed Poppy to her limits, breathing hard in her helmet as the proximity warnings started to go off on the rover. “I know. I know!” She cursed to herself as she aimed the rover straight for where the ground sensors registered the impact of the ship on the surface. She wanted to cry, she really really did. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her anxiety was through the roof. She didn’t understand why the ship didn’t listen. Her and Sarah _told_ them to not breech the barrier. They told them and now they had crashed.

Beth looked through her helmet, knowing that she had only a small bit of time before it iced up. She honestly disliked this planet sometimes, she really really, did but there was something about it all the same. The solitude was unbearable at times but she stayed. It felt better to stay, to be where she could control her life and where no one could tell her what she needed to do or wear or say. That and the research was interesting beyond belief. It was rare to get the opportunity to study a planet like this and Beth wanted to further her career so she continued.

However the ice storm was bearing down on them and she wondered if Sarah was out. She opened her helmet comms, worry and anxiety for her friend mixing with her anxiety about the crash and the storm. “Sarah, this it Beth. I am getting close to the crash site. Be safe!” She wasn’t sure if it got through and she checked the proximity again, relieved that she was only about eight feet out. Poppy covered the distance quickly and Beth spotted the abnormal ice ball resting up against mountain IX-65-Tetra.

She parked Poppy quickly and bolted towards it, her heat in her throat. “-eth, I’m... hundred meters out fro-... Do you cop-...” Sarah’s voice faded in and out as Beth found gap at the other side of the ice ball and was able to move towards the inside of it. “You read me?... I’m... there.” Sarah’s comms crackled and faded but Beth was happy she was still safe.

“I found the crash site! Turn back.” She spotted a hole torn into the side of the ship and she stepped inside. The ship was in disarray, two packs were flung about and it was twisted metal and wiring. She pushed towards the cockpit and spotted a single occupant. “There is only one person! Get back to Bravo, I can take them back myself!” She didn’t want Sarah caught out in the storm. The readings indicated that the crash was closer to Gamma and the storm was coming in quick.

She hastily made her way to the cockpit and inhaled a sharp breath at the sight of the spike of metal shoved through the armour of the pilot. She gave a low moan of dismay and touched them, wondering if she was too late. “Do you need help?” Sarah’s voice came through clearer and Beth’s heart jumped in her throat as she wondered how the hell she was going to make this work.

“Get back to Bravo! Crash site is closer to Gamma. I’m fine!” She just needed to make sure the pilot was alive first. She grabbed the pilot’s arm and gently moved it to see the metal better.

“Can’t! I think I spotted someone!” Sarah’s voice was borderline frantic and Beth felt the same. Her heart jumped into her throat as the pilot’s arm moved on it’s own. They were alive! Beth felt frantic as she grabbed her knife and hacked the harness away from their chest. “I’ve got a survivor! I’m packing them up and we will head out!” Sarah’s panting voice was a reassurance but Beth’s ears were ringing as she gently shushed the pilot, trying to get them to stop moving or touching the metal spike. She looked at it before cursing because she needed to cut it to free the pilot.

She bolted back to Poppy and grabbed the subzero torch. The wind was picking up and she cursed to herself again and again as she got back to the pilot. She couldn’t leave them there. They were shifting in their arms, grasping at the metal and she shoved their hands away as she started the torch and hastily cut through the metal. She wondered what it was because it cut quicker than she thought it would. Once the metal spike was cut free from the wreck the pilot slumped forward. She shoved against their shoulders, her display changed to red.

“Loading them up!” Sarah’s voice came through and Beth shifted the pilot, holding onto their shoulders before she shifted to look at them.

She gasped and backpedalled, hitting the ground with a choked gasp. “It’s turian!” And it was. She could see the outline firmly in the armour and her heart beat jumped in her chest but as the poor creature slumped, grasping at the spike remaining in their armour she jumped to her feet. She grabbed her torch and pushed at them gently before heating up the metal spike, sealing any gaps that would have been created in their armour before she grabbed their arm and slung it over her shoulder, helping them to their feet.

She wasn’t about to leave some poor wounded creature to freeze to death. She didn’t care that they were turian, she would help. They were a heavy weight and staggered as they walked but they walked all the same. She snagged the two packs as they stumbled out of the ship. She felt over burdened and she was wheezing slightly at the weight of everything but she forced herself to continue forward.

“I can’t leave it.” Sarah’s voice was clear in her ear and Beth nodded in agreement even though her friend couldn’t see it. “First Contact war be damned. I’m not leaving someone to die out here! Species doesn’t matter right now. Survival does!” Sarah’s voice was firm and slightly impassioned and Beth understood exactly what she was talking about.

Her and the turian staggered as they stepped out into the wind and the turian nearly went down but she caught them just in time. They reached Poppy quickly and she carefully got them into the passenger seat before tossing their packs into the back. “I’m way ahead of you, Sarah.” She got into the driver’s seat and hung a quick turn, flooring the rover to head back to Gamma. “I’m on my way back to Gamma with the one I found.” She glanced over and they were hanging their head, arms around their stomach. “If I’m alive, Ill talk to you in three months.” The comms crackle and cut completely and Beth swallowed. She could die from this, she could be killed by the turian but she couldn’t leave them out there.

She glanced over again and winced. The metal spike through their armour made her feel queasy and she didn’t quite know what to do about it. She had some very decent first aid skills but none of that mattered if she couldn’t get them back to Gamma. She hoped Sarah would make it back to Bravo. She knew it was ridiculous coming out to the surface while the storm bore down on them but she had to check the crash site. She let out a shaky inhale, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly in her gloved hands as her alarms started going off even words and her armour and Poppy started to ice up.

She knew she was close to Gamma and she silently prayed to whatever god was out there that she would make it in time. She glanced over at the turian again and they had slumped worse and she inhaled sharply, reaching over to grasp their arm and tug them towards her. She would prefer if they fell on her rather than out onto the ice. It took less than three minutes to finally arrive at Gamma. She pulled Poppy into the covered unit and once the rover was off Beth was moving.

She scrambled around the rover to the passenger side. “Come on. Just a little further!” She pleaded slightly as she grabbed the turian, slinging their arm around her shoulder again and pulling them out of the rover. For a moment or two she felt like they were going to collapse but through some miracles they got their feet under them enough to stagger with her towards Gamma. She moved over to the door and opened the decontamination chamber and gently aimed them at the wall. “Lean here! I need to get your packs.” She gently let them go and they leaned against the wall, their arms going to wrap around their middle. She ran back to poppy and grabbed their two heavy packs and dragged them to the outpost as her display warnings started flashing red with their second to last warning.

The ice storm was coming in fast and her heart beat in her chest and air escaped her lungs in bursts as she pants but she managed to get into the decontamination chamber. She dropped the packs and sealed the door behind her before she ran to the control panel and started the decontamination process and engaging the heating protocol. She wanted the area completely warm before they went into the main area. She didn’t want to drop the temperature in the main area. She knew they could wait a few moments.

She hurried over to the turian and they were surprisingly still standing, leaning more against the wall and she could see them sliding down it slightly. “Keep holding on! I’ll fix you up as soon as the door opens.” She wasn’t even sure if they could hear her but they willingly allowed her to pull their arm over her shoulders and walk them to the main door. They nearly had their full weight on her and Beth grunted in her helmet, swallowed hard at just how bit the turian was in comparison to her. “I’ll get you fixed up. I promise. I swear it will, just don’t kill me when I do.” She muttered it out as her legs started to strain and hurt from the weight of the turian and she forced herself through it.

The door finally turned green and she half walked, half dragged the turian to in front of the furnace wall. They collapsed against her and she grunted and did her best to carefully lay them down without hitting the metal spike sticking from their armour. Once they were laying down on their back the rushed back to the decontamination chamber and dragged their packs inside. She sealed the door up before she yanked her helmet off, she tossed it off to the side quickly before getting ride of her gloves as well.

Her breathing was coming out harshly as she ran to her desk and grabbed her large first aid kit. She dropped it beside the turian and then ran to get some towels. She then ran some water into a pot and threw it on to boil before she moved to the thermostat and cranked the heat up. As it was her teeth were chattering rather violently. She hastily removed the rest of her armour, piling it all into a little heap beside the decontamination chamber door before she moved over to the sink and scrubbed at her hands and arms.

She knew fairly advanced first aid, both Sarah and her were required to know it before they had been allowed down on Pluto’s surface. Her hands shook trough. While she knew first aid, that was different than actually _doing_ first aid. However once the water boiled she dutifully carried the pot over to the turian. She set it on the coffee table and then knelt next to the turian. She didn’t want to remove the spike but she also knew she didn’t exactly have a choice. She needed to see the damage and she couldn’t do that with the turian’s armour on.

“I’m sorry.” She said it gently before she started looking for seal. She found some on the helmet and was able to get it off with a bit of difficulty and awkwardness. She sat for a second and stared at the turian. They honestly didn’t look as terrifying as the Alliance had stated they were. It honestly just looked vulnerable and the red marks on it’s face were rather striking against it’s slight grey colour. She shook it off as she made sure her first aid kit was close enough to reach as she let out a shaky breath and started to look for seals on the turian’s chest piece.

She found them with a bit o searching and grabbed the top if it. The poor thing let out a low and pained moan but didn’t wake up. Beth bit back a whimper. She really didn’t want to do what she was going to do but she didn’t have a choice. She quickly and smoothly lifted the chest piece off. The turian gave a chked gasp mixed with a moan but didn’t wake up. With speed she grabbed the closest towel and shoved it against the turian’s waist. There was a lot of blood and she knew it wasn’t just from her yanking the spike out when she pulled the armour off.

“It’s okay. We are okay.” She said it softly as she held firm pressure onto the wound. She hadn’t been able to see where it was placed or how deep it was but she knew she had to get the bleeding slowed down or stopped. She inhaled shakily and closed her eyes, keeping her hands tight against the towel. She knew the turian would need stitches and she hoped and prayed that she would be able to do what she needed to ensure they survived.


	2. Chapter 2

Beth worked for what seemed like forever on the turian. Once she had nearly soaked the one towel with its blue blood, she realized she needed to stitch it up. And she had. She had diligently, and as carefully as she could, cleaned and then stitched the wound closed. She was just thankful her med kit had dissolving internal stitches so she was able to stitch the inside of the wound closed. The turian had only faintly moaned a few times before it had gone entirely limp and she apologized to it profusely, knowing she was hurting it but having no other choice. However her careful stitching had worked and the bleeding had slowly stopped.

She didn’t know it there were any drugs she could give them and she didn’t want to ruin her progress by killing them with some hopeful injection of antibiotics or painkillers. She had just put a heavy amount of gauze on the wound and taped it up. She thought she did a pretty fine job as she looked down on it. Her back ached and her eyes felt strained but the turian was still breathing, if a bit shallow, but still breathing.

However her hands were itching. It’s blue blood had slightly dried on them and she quickly got up and headed to the sink. She scrubbed her hands but the itching was still there and she noticed a slight red rash on her skin from where the turian’s blood had been. “That's not good.” She muttered it to herself as she hurried back to her medkit and grabbed an anti-histamine patch. She headed over to small washer and dryer and stripped out of her undersuit. She slapped the anti-histimine patch on her upper thigh before shoving the undersuit into the washing machine. She rewashed her arms and hands before shivering, she was only in her underwear and while the furnace was roaring, she was still cold.

She quickly made her way to the bedroom and to her dresser. She pulled on her fuzziest clothes before grabbing all the blankets and pillows she could, carrying them out to where the turian was. They looked so still lying on the floor and she winced at how uncomfortable it looked. She quickly cleaned up the entire area, carefully picking up the bloody towels by their clean spots as she carried them over to the washer. Once all the towels and reusable clothes were in the washer she started it before moving back over to the turian.

She carefully started removing the rest of their armour, gently tugging it off and setting it off to the side. They were soon down to their torn up undersuit but it was caked with blood and she honestly didn’t want to leave it on them. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she made up her mind and gently started to tug it down to at least their waist. Blue blood was all over their stomach and abdomen and she hurried over to the sink. She quickly filled up a small bowl with warm water and grabbed a cloth before also putting on her dishwashing gloves. It was no good to aggravate her allergic reaction more.

With that she came back over and gently cleaned the turian. She marvelled at how different it seemed to her, how it had hard plates all over it but there were some gaps and its waist was mainly uncovered. She carefully and gently cleaned away all the blood she could find, even rolling them over onto their side to clean their back. She set the cloth down and then took the bowl and the cloth back to the sink. She dumped the water and rinsed out the cloth before tossing it into the washer, ignoring how it beeped at her for opening it while it was running.

After she took off her gloves, leaving them by the sink, she moved back over to the turian once again and picked up on of her last dry towel. She diligently and carefully dried off the turian’s plates and skin. She couldn’t stop herself from touching their plates, exploring their texture and give with her fingertips. There was no doubting that the turian was alien to her, it was all hard angles and sharp lines but it’s hide between its plates was soft like suede and it’s plates themselves had a bit more give than she would have thought. The turian shivered and she immediately halted her exploration before looking between the pile of blankets and pillows and the turian.

She nibbled on her bottom lip again. “Please don’t be upset with me. I will do my best not to look.” She grabbed it’s undersuit and pulled it the rest of the way off, keeping her eyes off of it to preserve the turian’s modesty as she blindly reached for a blanket and dragged it over the turian’s lower half once she got its undersuit off. She carefully balled up the undersuit and hurried to the washer, opening the top and shoving it in before returning to the turian her cheeks feeling overly hot. “Alright. Let’s get you comfortable.” Her voice shook slightly but she diligently packed pillows underneath its head and around it’s body to be a bit more comfortable before she dragged the blankets over it.

She nodded, satisfied that the turian was well covered and that she had done the best she could, she sat in silence, not sure what she should do now. She blinked for a bit before she looked over at the turian and slowly reached out, smoothing a thumb across its forehead plates. They were such a lovely and soft dove grey and the spiky things sticking out form its head were a little darker on the under sides. She brushed the back of her fingers against it’s mandible with a curious look. She had never really been one to put stock into what the media had to say about the alien species that had attacked them and they honestly weren’t as scary as they had been made out to be.

“I’m going to be so bored if all I do is sit here and watch you sleep Which is also very creepy and I apologize for that but I want to make sure you are going to stay living.” She pressed her hands together before she gave a slight frown. “Would you object to me putting on a movie?” She looked at the turian but there was no reaction and she smiled at herself for pretending to have a conversation with the unconscious alien. “Alright, I hear no objections so I’ll go pick one out.” She chuckled to herself before she went back to her room and grabbed one of her larger tablets and a stand for it before she came back into the main room and set it up. “Aright, do you want to pick a movie? Or can I?” She glanced back at them, nervously biting her lips but relaxed slightly when they continued to breath, slow and even.

“Okay, twist my rubber arm then. I’ll pick.” She fought back a smile as she tossed on one of the newest godzilla movies that Sarah had given her before she settled on the floor next to the turian. “You might like this one. It’s an action movie about a giant monster that was created due to radioactive waste. Very interesting. I wonder if they bring back Mothra. I always loved that her, was crushed when they killed her off last time but they seem to do that often.” She watched the movie start to play as she rambled before she reached out and set her hand on the turian’s chest, feeling comforted as it slowly rose and fell beneath her palm.

“What do I mean by they do that often?” It made her feel better and amused her to pretend the turian was asking her questions. She was a very extroverted person so having the one sided conversation was comforting. “They kill Mothra off every so often only to bring her back a movie or two later. So I hope they bring her back again.” She gently shushed the silent turian as the movie finally started playing. “It’s starting. We need to be quiet.” She said it in a hushed tone, a smile tugging up her mouth as she started to watch the movie.

She just hoped that when the turian woke up that it wouldn’t attack her. She didn’t trust the media’s description of them as violent, war hungry monsters and she just hoped that they weren’t proven right.


	3. Chapter 3

Tiberius felt hazy, like the world wasn't exactly real and that he was floating. His body ached, he was faintly aware of that but there was a soft voice that soothed him through it. He wasn't sure where he was and what was happening but he felt warm and comforted. He honestly didn't want to wake up, to be pulled from the slightly murky haze that covered everything around him but something was nagging at him, the faint pain was growing on his stomach, it burned and he was so thirsty.

Awareness came to him slowly and it felt like everything was muffled and heavy. He couldn't force his arms or legs to move and when he tried to remember what happened, everything faded away. A sharp ache had him grinding his teeth as he tried to open his eyes. "I know. I know. I'm sorry! Just a bit longer. I need to change the bandage and then we're done." The comforting voice was soft and smooth and sweet and he felt himself relaxing before there was a faint pressure to his forehead plates as if something soft had brushed against them. "I'm terribly sorry about all the pain. I would give you pain killers but I don't trust they wouldn't kill you and I can't read anything in your packs." There was a thread if anxiety to the voice that had him frowning slightly as he fought to open his eyes.

"I promise you, we will watch whatever you want after this. I'll let you pick. I _insist_ you pick. So you better let me finish this and not make me feel guilty anymore." That soft and soothing voice shook slightly and the aching pain turned into a sharp jab and he hissed slightly, unable to help it, his hand coming up to grab it. "I know. I know. I'm _really_ sorry!" There was pressure and something grasped his hand, moving it back down to whatever it was he was laying on. "Just a little longer and then I'll be done. I know it hurts and I'm really _really_ sorry!" Tiberius wanted to tell the female it was alright, that the pain was okay and he knew she didn't mean it. She was far too concerned and apologetic for her to be doing it on purpose.

He went back to trying to open his eyes and biting back sounds of pain as his side burned and ached as the female worked on him, softly speaking to him and apologizing. He wondered if she was applying medi-gel and he wondered why it wasn't soothing his pain like it normally would. Perhaps they were out and had to go more primitive with their wound dressing. He remembered that he and Kaitus had been sent on a mission and it had gone horribly wrong. He remembered that they crashed and he was sure he was dying and that he had told his friend to leave.

"Kaitus." It came out slightly slurred and his throat clicked it felt so dry and the woman made a soft shushing sound.

"It's okay. It's fine. You're safe." Anxiety seemed to make her voice pitch up and Tiberius tried to blink open his eyes. It took a bit more and finally he was able to crack them open. A human with a halo of dark curlt fringe was leaning over him and he stiffened, fear going through him as he tried to move away from it. Their eyes went wide, "Shhhhh its okay. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. It's okay." That comforting tone was strained but it was enough to get him to pause as he looked at the human. They was petite, their skin a rich brown like freshly tilled earth, and they wasn't wearing armour, nor were they armed. "I know this is confusing and I don't even know if you can understand me but it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Tiberius understood he was injured and if the human wanted to kill him, they easily could but he could sense nothing but sincerity in their voice. He slowly relaxed, not taking his eyes off them as he sunk back into the pillows. They bared their teeth, their eyes crinkling at the corners. It was enough to make him stiffen but he held himself still. "Are you thirsty?" They mimed holding something to their mouth and tipping it back and he blinked, his mandible fluttering at how ridiculous they looked trying to mime drinking to him but he nodded.

The human quickly moved away and he wanted to watch them but there was a couch blocking his view. He looked around to where he was, it looked like he was laying on a living room floor, a large wall was in front of the couch, flames he was pretty sure were fake glowed along it. "I'm just gunna give you water. I have been and you haven't died yet so I assume it's alright for you." The human called it over the space and Tiberius blinked. He felt like everything was a little surreal at the moment. The human seemed actually concerned for him, that she was helping him. He gave another blink.

 _She_.

He frowned slightly but it was still there. The human was female, she had to be. He doubted a human male would have been half as forgiving of him crashing onto the surface of their planet. However a part of him wondered if it was all a ploy, that the human military would storm in and haul him off to be vivisected alive. He moved his hand to where his waist hurt, feeling sluggish and tired. He moved the blanket he was under to look and a bulky bandage was on his bare waist. It was clean and white and he was only distracted by the human woman returning. There was a tall cup of what looked like water in her hand and Tiberius felt a bit untrusting as he looked at it.

"How do I know you haven't poisoned it?" It came out of him in a rasp and the female tilted her head, her wild and curly fringe shifting slightly as she did so. She didn't reply, just looked at him with confusion. 

"Here." She held it out and he shook his head. "It's okay. It's just water." She held it closer and he rumbled in warning, narrowing his eyes at her.

"So _you_ say." He was thirsty, so very thirsty but he wasn't about to trust a human. Even one as unique looking as her.

She stared at him for a few seconds before shaking her head. "You don't trust me, do you?" She asked it slowly and he shook his head. There was no reason to trust her, she could have poisoned it where he couldn't see it. She gave a small nod before looking at the glass and taking several really big gulps from it. "There. Just water." She looked down at him, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "I won't hurt you. I spent far too long making sure you would live to hurt you now." She settled beside him and set the cup off to the side before she set her hands into her lap. "I don't know your anatomy at all but you had a pretty nasty wound." She gestured to the bandage on his waist and Tiberius tugged the blanket back over himself, blocking his waist from view.

He watched as her eyes went wide and her cheeks darkened slightly. It was strange to see the dark colour of her skin tone go a few shades darker. Her eyes were dark too and she looked away from him. "I'm sorry, I was so used to you being like unconscious I didn't think about what your culture is like with... _t_ _hat_." She stressed the word and for some reason Tiberius wanted to flick out a mandible in a smirk at that. She sounded so _bashful_.

"Nudity doesn't matter. Just don't want a human looking at my unprotected areas." That was the truth. The wound was vulnerable and he didn't like the feeling he got from her looking at it. She barely reacted to the words and picked at her strange hands with their numerous digits. "Who are you?" He asked it softly, wondering just who this human female was and why she would ever have pulled him from a crashed ship. He was a _turian_. Their species was at _war_.

"Can't understand you. I figure you can understand me but I can't do the same." She glanced at him and Tiberius shifted in his spot, wanting to sit up a bit more. He winced, clutching at his side and she inhaled sharply and moved to help him. She steadied his shoulders and her other hand held over his own as she shushed him softly as he groaned. "It's okay. It's okay but you can't move, you'll pull the stitches." She said it softly and Tiberius blinked rapidly. Stitches. She used _stitches_.

No one in council space used such a primitive method of healing for wounds. It took forever to heal and could cause so many issues with scar tissue. He couldn't believe that she had resorted to that to help him. "Where is your medi-gel?" It came out snapped as he finally laid back down and she shook her head.

"I can't understand you." She said it softly and Tiberius looked at the ceiling, gritting his teeth.

"Get my pack." It came out sharp and angry but he couldn't help it. She was using primitive methods to help heal him and he wanted his medi-gel.

"I can't understand you." She said it softly after a few moments of quiet and Tiberius reached up and rubbed his forehead plates, grinding his teeth together worse.

He inhaled and exhaled slowly to calm himself before he mimed out the action of putting on a pack. "Pack. Pack. I want my pack." He glanced at her and she was watching him intently, staring at the motions he went through.

"You want a..." She narrowed her eyes and he mimed out the shape of his pack as best as he could, feeling a bit anxious. If she didn't take his packs then he wouldn't have anything to eat or have any medi-gel. "Bag?" She looked at him, confusion painted all over her face and he nodded quickly. She bared her teeth again before getting to her feet quickly and moving away once more.

He glanced at the water glass and while he wanted to leave it. She had drank it and nothing had happened to her. He picked it up and gave it an experimental sniff but could smell nothing but a faint recycled smell that all ship water had. He took a small drink and once the cool water hit his mouth and tongue he drained the rest of the glass. He set it back down and turned to the sound of the human female grunting. She was dragging his two big packs towards him.

"I can't believe I carried these and practically you out of that ship. What the fuck?" She panted as she said it, grunting as she dragged the packs slowly across the floor. " _[Hormone similar to the Hexaxia]_ is a hell of a drug." Tiberius jolted at the unfamiliar sound of the translator responding to a word it didn't have a translation for. He had never actually had that happen before but he before he could stop and think about what it was the translator was thing to say, the human female had finally stopped at his side, his packs where he could reach them.

She flopped onto the floor beside them, breathing hard. She shoved her wild cloud of curly fringe away from her face and bared her teeth at him again. "I hope this is what you meant." She gestured to the packs and he nodded, feeling relieved that she had taken them both when she had found them. He grabbed one and flipped it open. His spare pistol was on the top and the human inhaled at it but simply pressed her mouth closed. Tiberius looked at her and reached into the pack, she stiffened as he did so. "I'm like a scientist, turian. I'm not a solider. I don't do guns. Like _at all_." It came out in a blurted rush and Tiberius paused slightly before he let his pack go and brought up his omni-tool. He felt a bit embarassed he hadn’t thought of that right away.

He tapped on it before bringing up his built in translator. "You are a scientist?" He asked it clearly and the human was watching him carefully and the translator spit out a rather breathy and flat language without subvocals.

The human stared at it intently before she bared her teeth again. For some reason, despite everything that told him the gesture was aggressive he didn't actually think it was. "I am! I'm a human researching subzero temperatures on Pluto as well as the landscape and how it's forming." She clasped her strange hands together as she looked at him and Tiberius felt his stomach sink slightly, scientists... if she was a scientist did that mean there was no military presence?

"Is there military around?" He asked it carefully and waited. The translator spit out the translation in her language and one of the strange dark strips on her face lifted slightly.

"This is the frozen ass crack of nowhere, buddy. There is no one on Pluto but me and my friend Sarah. We are the only people on the surface." She gestured with her hand, "We have a few military ships come by Base Hawking every so often to check it out but nothing aside from that." At the words Tiberius blinked. Their mission had been utterly useless, there was nothing out here but some scientists and minimal military presence.

"I had a friend. Did he survive?" He asked it so quietly he was afraid the translator wouldn't pick it up but it spit something out and the human blinked slightly.

"Sarah found someone out on the ice. I bet it was your friend. If they made it to Base Bravo, he would have survived." She said it evenly and watched him and Tiberius felt himself slump slightly, quietly thanking the spirits that Kaitus was alive out there.

"Can we contact them?" He wanted to contact Kaitus and let him know that he was okay, if a bit beaten up.

The human shook her head. "We can’t contact anyone for three months, the ice storm knocks out our comm towers and we are isolated down here.” She blinked at him and Tiberius stared at her.

“Excuse me?” It came out clipped and his heart started to race. Three months? He would be stuck on this icy rock for _three months_?

“The ice storm. It’s what caused you to crash. It lasts three months. This the start of the long storm season. It will be three months of storm, twelve hours of zero wind or weather, and then another three months of a storm before a week of good weather.” The human was speaking but Tiberius could barely hear her. Three months. They would be stuck for _three months_. They were only supposed to be gone for three _weeks_. “It's one of the only consistent things about Pluto. The weather is so regular you can literally set clocks to it.”

Tiberius didn’t know what the hell that meant and he shook his head. “I need to leave in three weeks.” He needed to get to Kaitus and they needed to leave.

“I’m sorry, you can’t. We're stuck inside, Gamma is essentially the base of an ice mountain right now. We can’t get out, nor should we.” She shook her head and Tiberius stared at her, feeling a heavy knot growing in his gizzard. He felt sick, truly and _utterly_ sick. He couldn’t leave and for all he knew wouldn’t be able to leave at all. “But, it’s not all bad. We have a lot of movies and I have some puzzles and I think I could scrounge up some books, I’m more into poetry but we could make due. After it’s all over we can definitely contact whoever you need to get you home.” She said it softly and Tiberius blinked, looking at her intently.

“Why would you wish to do that?” He had heard all about humans and how they were and yet she sat there, looking as earnest as one could possibly be, giving him a free chance to go home. His translator gave out the translation and she glanced at it, listening intently before she once again looked at him.

“I’m a scientist, not a solider. On Pluto there is no war, just survival.” She sad it carefully, her own dark eyes seeming to study him as a faint silence fell. “And who would I be, but a monster? If I were to leave the sick to die, and the injured to perish, and the starving to waste away. Is humanity formed with the weapons in our hands? Or is it created within every moment we reach out to another with care? Humanity is not born within an act violence, but within every act of compassion.” She said it softly and gently and Tiberius stared at her for a moment, almost confused but utterly struck by the words she had spoken.

“And that is what separates us from the primordial. When we reach out, not to slash and tear with our claws, but to bring our brethren up to their feet and hold them high in shared triumph. We mindlessly fought each other for this soil but only when we held each other close as brethren did civilization bloom. Our womb as an empire was not in a drop of violence drawn blood but within the beating hearts of compassion and care.” The familiar and well spoken poem came from deep within Tiberius. He was astounded as just how similar her words had been to it. He hadn’t realized that there would be some within humans who felt like that, like there had been _any_ humans who held such a similar belief to an ancient turian poem.

She blinked at his translator slowly before her mouth turned upwards at the corners and her face softened as she turned to look at him and Tiberius’ heart thumped inside his chest strangely at it and he felt himself compelled to look at her, to stare into her eyes and take in her very soul. Words jumbled up into his throat, feeling like they wanted to burst from him as he realized he was letting out a faint bass purr that he hastily cut off, hoping she hadn’t heard it.

“That is a very lovely poem.” Her words were nearly a whisper and Tiberius felt suddenly tongue tied and he felt the hide on his neck heat up. He looked away and nodded, not sure what else to say to her. He was not sure what he was feeling and he had absolutely no clue what it all meant. “Seems we aren’t so different after all.” She said it in such a sweet way that Tiberius was helpless not to look at her again. She was baring her teeth and he blinked at her in shock.

Happiness, that baring of teeth meant she was _happy_.

And didn’t that just transform everything he could see about her? Because it made her _glow_.


	4. Chapter 4

Beth smiled at the turian and all they did was stare at her but it didn’t really matter. They had common ground, she hadn’t thought quoting a historic poem about the birth of humanity would have struck a chord within them but it seemed it had and she liked that they had responded with one of their own. “I’m Bethany Hawgrave, but you can call me Beth.” She stuck out her hand towards them. She figured introductions were the way to go, at least they were conscious. She was happy about that because she had been highly concerned for a bit there, they _had_ been unconscious for two whole days. 

The turian looked at her hand before reaching out with it’s own two-fingered one and gave it a small shake. He spoke in that strange but rather interesting language of his and Beth glanced at the orange computer thing translating for him, “Tiberius Tercolus, you can call me Tiberius.” The flat sounding voice came out of it and she shoved her curls back, wishing she had time to grab her hair wrap and wrap the unruly curls away from her face but she wanted to continue to talk to the turian. They had yet to release her hand and Beth shivered slightly at the warmth their palm hand.

 _Tiberius._ That did not sound like a female turian name and she would bet that her turian was a male. Which was just her luck, the romantic in her rose up at the thought of a man sprouting off poetry to her. Currently she had only guys like Rich, who said she had a fat ass and wanted to bang her 'like a fucking drum', chasing after her and that just did not satisfy the greedy romantic inside of her that wanted to be wooed. She felt her cheeks heat up slightly as she pulled her hand away. There was no reason to put something into the silences that wasn’t there.

“So poetry?” She said it carefully as she watched Tiberius

He rubbed the back of his neck slightly letting out a rather smooth but decidedly bashful grumbling chirp, “Yah, I... I like it, studied it a fair bit before my mandatory military training.” The flat voice of the translator did nothing to showcase what she was positive was his actual voice. His mandibles fluttered slightly and she was nearly entranced by the look of him. He was just so... _different_.

She glanced away for a moment, “Oh? Its a hobby of mine. I have a lot of poetry books!” She had been proud of all the ones she had collected. She had even gotten a hold of several first edition poetry books that had cost her a pretty penny. She resisted the urge to get up and go and get them to show them off.

“I do as well. Poetry is very soothing I have found.” He said it carefully and she had to force herself to pay attention to the orange interface rather than the rumbling chirps he let out. 

“Settles the soul my mother always says!” She said it happily and he slowly blinked at her again, his rather lovely green eyes looking at her intently. She smiled, unable to stop herself. He liked poetry and that was just.. well that was just _wonderful_. "It's nice meeting another poetry lover." It really was. Not a lot of people enjoyed it like she did and she had always resigned herself to never finding a guy who would appreciate it like she did. 

He nodded, speaking once more, "I agree." That flat voice came from the interface and when he shifted in his spot, she glanced at him and she figured it was her turn to watch him intently. He was all hard angles and she felt a small shiver race down her spine at how different and sharp he looked. She wondered how many people would consider her interest deviant. They were supposedly at war but she had been telling him the truth when she said that on Pluto there is no war or enemies, there was only survival. That and she was rather fond of him already, she had saved his life and had spent most of the two days talking to him, even if he hadn't talked back to her. He reached over and grasped his pack again as he let out several thrumming chirps, "I have a translator in here that you can have." The voice came from the interface and Beth sat back on her knees. 

That was interesting. Humans were learning they weren't alone in the universe and having the ability to actually understand each other? Well Beth hadn't become a scientist to balk away from new experiences. "Sounds like fun!" She grinned at him again and he glanced at her before his eyes flicked to her hair and let out several rumbles and chirps.

"You need to find a way to put your fringe away." The interface said the words flatly and he looked away slightly. She blinked, feeling a bit off at the request. He let out a free more thrumming chirps that seemed to dance along her skin. "It will be in the way. If you can put it back that would be appreciated." The flat voice clarified the statement as he pulled the pack closer and went back to digging through it. 

That request was a bit more understandable and she nodded as she got to her feet and headed back to her bedroom. The temperature was significantly cooler than the rest of the outpost so she quickly moved and grabbed her hair wrap, hastily putting it on so her curls were held back from her face like Tiberius needed. She moved back out into the main room and he had pulled out several items from his bag and glanced up at her from his slightly prone position.

He gave a few more noises as he grabbed a packet and motioned for her to come close. "I need your assistance for a moment." The flat words came from the interface and she nodded quickly, moving to sit beside him. He spoke some more in his own language and she watched him intently as his mandibles flicked out at the end. "I understand you used stitches to fix me and while I appreciate you using what you must have had, I need [untranslatable]."

At the rather glitched sounding word she blinked. "You need what now?" She blinked at him and she was very much aware he was frowning at her. 

He spoke again and she turned her attention back to the interface. "I need [untranslatable]."

She blinked at that, a small smile tugging at her mouth. "Yaaaah, that's not translating, buddy." She could only imagine what he was trying to say if it wouldn't translate properly. 

He gave a huff and spoke slowly before looking at his interface intently. "I have a medical gel that I can use for wounds." At that she let out a small 'ah', that made a lot more sense. She wondered just what he was trying to say that wasn't translating and why the interface hadn't translated it to that as the nearest translation. 

"Why didn't your translator default to that?" She pointed at it, watching him intently for his response. 

He spoke in those rumbles and clicks and chirps for a few seconds before lifting his arm and the interface. "The [untranslatable] do not have a great translator, it has a very poor memory bank for languages and only has the basic translations pre-installed." At the translation her eyebrow rose slightly but she simply nodded. That made sense. Like using Google translate instead of the universal translators that actually worked within linguistic contexts of various languages. 

"Makes sense. What do you need me to do?" She looked at him expectantly and he let out a sigh and shifted his weight, his face plates shifting into what she just _knew_ was a wince.

He spoke and she glanced between him and the interface, "I need you to remove the bandage and stitches and put the gel on the wound." He held out a packet towards her before pulling the blanket back.

She nodded quickly and set the package aside before heading to her desk and fishing out her box of medical gloves that she had found. She came back and pulled them on, he gave her a distrusting look, falling still as he leaned away from her slightly. Her cheeks heated up and she forced herself to smile. "It's for me. Turns out I'm mildly allergic to you. I do have a anti-histamine patch but I just don't want to risk rashing up. It's itchy." She said it carefully and it took him a second before he nodded and relaxed.

Once she was sure he was okay with it she picked up the packet and set it on her lap as she carefully started to remove the bandage. She winced every time he did and hated the fact she was hurting him. She would have been a terrible solider and she knew that was very much true. She could never carry on her father's military legacy. He hadn't liked it but he understood. She uncovered the rather angry looking wound and carefully touched the back of her fingers against it, it wasn't overly hot and she was thankful for that.

"No heat means no infection. That's good." She smiled at him quickly before looking at her stitching with a bit of wariness. She honestly didn't want to remove them, he had nearly bled out on her before she put them in there. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth and glanced at Tiberius. He was looking between her and the wound with just a touch of wariness. "I need to get something to remove these with." She gently set the packet on his stomach and moved back over to her desk. She quickly grabbed her first aid kit and brought it over. She set it down before digging into it, pulling out a fresh scalpel blade and some tweezers. She opened the scalpel package and knelt down beside him. "Alright." She gave a shuddering exhale, feeling all together too worried as she slowly started to work.

She had given him ten stitches and because the wound wasn't long she knew it was overkill but she had been so focused on getting the wound closed she hadn't cared all that much but now she was kicking herself. She carefully cut each stitch and the did her best to gently pull the stitch out. The wound was opening up on the surface and Tiberius was stiffening with each one and biting off groans. "I'm sorry. I know. I know." The words came out of her automatically as she worked. "Halfway done. Just about over." She continued her work, feeling tense and worried as the wound slowly opened more and more. "This is crazy. Stitches help." She muttered it to herself, feeling almost insane as she did as the turian wanted. 

Once the last stitch was removed she set the tweezers and scalpel blade aside and grabbed the packet he had given her. She ripped it open and squeezed the gel out over the wound. She carefully spread it around it and into it and then watched as it slowly hardened and Tiberius slowly relaxed. He shook slightly and looked almost limp but she felt the same way as she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. 

"That was crazy. I didn't like that. Don't ask me to remove the internal ones. Those will dissolve with time and I don't think I have it in me to do that." She shook her head and Tiberius simply nodded, breathing rather shakily. She quickly cleaned up the area, taking off her gloves once everything was out away. She moved back over to him and grabbed the empty glass. She took it into the kitchenette and filled it with water again before moving back over to the turian. "Water? She asked it softly and he nodded, his green eyes cracking open. His hand shook when she reached for it so she hovered, making sure the glass didn't slip as he drained it rather quickly. 

He spoke and she once again turned to the interface. "Once I feel less shaky, I will help you with the translator."

At the statement she frowned slightly, "Do you want to relax for now? Let yourself recover?" She wanted him to be far better than he was currently. She didn't know what a pale turian looked like but she would definitely say he looked paler, especially around his neck. He shook his head moving to sit up and she hastily pressed on his shoulders with a head shake. "No. I'm taking control here. We will sit and watch a movie before you even _think_ about helping me with anything." She pointed at him in warning and he blinked those green eyes at her before his head tilted and he flicked out a mandible, the expression practically screamed out his amusement but she would remain firm, even if her own mouth was twitching upwards slightly. 

She turned away and scooted to her tablet set up and started it up. "Now I distinctly said you got to pick the movie so do ahead and pick one." She brought the tablet over to him, holding it in her hands as she brought up the movie list she had on that. He was staring at her, still very clearly amused but she just shook her head. "It's your pick." She gestured with the tablet, a smile threatening to creep across her face. 

He finally relented after a few moments of staring at the side of her face before he simply tapped the screen, picking at random. She raised an eyebrow at his choice. "Didn't take you for a horror lover." She moved and set the tablet back up in its stand as the newest version of Stephan King's IT started to play. She shrugged slightly, it should be interesting to see how he enjoyed it. 


	5. Chapter 5

Tiberius didn’t know what he was feeling but... he _liked_ the human named Beth. The movie had been... absolutely completely beyond him and he had not liked it in the least and it made him worry about the humans’ ability for creation for coming up with something so utterly disturbing but Beth had talked throughout the film, chattering about what she liked and didn’t like. To be perfectly honest, she made it all the more bearable.

She had been correct when she had first kept him prone. The process of removing the stitches and his wound reopening up had taken more out of him than he had expected. The medi-gel had taken care of the pain and had helped him relax but he had been exhausted. He had even dozed off at some point during the movie, only waking up when Beth would mention something about how they filmed a certain scene or how things were unrealistic or not as scary as they could have been.

However he was feeling marginally better now and they needed to overcome the language barrier they had at the moment. He didn't want to keep relying on his omni-tool to translate because it did a rather horrible job of it. He glanced at her, taking in her dark skin that reminded him so much of fresh earth and vitality. There was something intriguing about her, her skin colour, her soft voice, her smile, and those soft eyes that looked like they had didn't have the ability to scowl. She was sweet and kind and it was a rather soothing balm to him. She was so very different than what he knew if humans and what he learned. She had risked her very life to save him and not only that but had taken care of him, healed him. For a human that was remarkable to see.

His mind was once again brought back to the poem she had said. It had been so startlingly similar to the ancient poem of turians rise to civilization. Compassion knew no boundaries it seemed. He glanced back at the strange data pad she had and the screen faded to black and those strange human letters started to scroll up.

"All in all, not a bad movie but horror is not generally the genre I like. Sarah gave me a bunch of movies to watch and that was in with it." She said it almost happily as she moved over and grabbed the strange data pad, pulling it off its stand. "Granted the source material is getting a little stale and it's widely known Stephan King was totally a _[drug similar to red sand]_ addict when he wrote it. Also that child orgy scene in the book? Fucking gross." She gave a shudder and Tiberius blinked rapidly.

"The _what?"_ He stressed the word, wondering if his translator had glitched because he was very positive she had talked about children having group sex in a septic system for a city.

She glanced between him and his omni-tool and then made a slight face that showed how uncomfortable and grossed out she was by it. "Child orgy scene. It's fucking weird and it added nothing to the book and scholars now are currently questioning Stephan King, the author, about if he used it as a symbolism for loss of innocence but everyone else is rightly calling him a creep." She said it quickly and he blinked. He had heard it correctly. What the fuck was wrong with that King person? Who _wrote_ that type of filth.

"Ah." A small and slightly uncomfortabke silence fell before he looked at her. She was tapping on her heavy data pad and he shifted slightly, ignoring the sharp ache that was deep inside his stomach. "We should put in your translator." He watched as she glanced at his omni-tool again, it spit out her flat sounding language and then she looked up at him with a small smile and a nod.

"Probably a good idea. Your colour is back to being normal. Well normal from what I have seen of you at least." Her dark eyes seemed to study him, her gaze travelling over his face before landing on his neck. "Definitely not as pale." She looked back up at him and smiled that happy smile of hers.

He nodded, trying to ignore how he felt at the thought of her looking so intently at his vulnerable neck. "I need you to bring me your medical kit and then I need to sit up more and I believe I will need your help with that." He waited for the translation on his omni-tool to come through and once it was done she nodded quickly, moving rather quickly to get what he required. He reached over and grabbed his pack, digging through it. He spotted some ration packs and his gizzard clenched with hunger. He found a ration bar and grabbed it before also grabbing the translator that was tucked inside a case.

"Let's get you up properly." At Beth's voice he nodded and set his ration pack and the translator on his lap before pressing his hand to the floor and attempting to sit up. He grimaced at the pain and Beth pushed against his shoulders, taking the brunt of his weight as his arms shook with weakness. She held him up and he bit off a cry at the pain that seared through him but then he was mostly upright. "Sorry! Sorry. I know it hurts!" She cursed slightly as she hastily grabbed pillows and blankets and shoved them behind him, not letting him go until she was certain he wouldn't fall back and he appreciated it.

"It's not your fault. You don't need to apologize." He breathed hard as he looked at her and she wrung her hands slightly. They were such strange looking things with their numerous digits, it was different, she was different. However he didn't mind the look of her. All he could see was kindness. She _radiated_ it.

"I know but it's instinctive and I was making it worse." She gave him a rather shaky smile and he nodded before grabbing her medical kit. It was labelled in her language, but he was able to figure out where the scalpels were fairly easily. Some things simply translated across species. He set it in his lap before grabbing some medi-gel from his pack.

He could feel her apprehension and he glanced at her and she had tightened her grip on her hands so tightly her knuckles had turned light. "The translator goes behind your ear." He lifted the translator and then turned his head, gesturing to where his own was underneath his skin. "I need to make a small incision and then insert it but I'm going to numb you a bit with my medical gel." He remembered to tack that end phrase into it so it would translate properly and he hoped that him explaining it would help her nerves and apprehension.

Once the translator spit it all out she gave a heavy and shaky exhale before giving him a quick nod. "Knowing makes me feel better. Pain always makes me a baby." She gave him a small smile and he flicked his mandibles out in a return one. He wondered about that, humans looked so... Delicate. He wondered just how their pain tolerance was. Turians were heartier but when there _was_ pain it could get unbearable. He was thankful the first few days of his recovery had been unconscious.

"That's okay. Turians can be babies when they get hurt bad enough. I know I would have been a baby if I had been conscious when you first brought me in." He said it lightly, trying to make her feel better. It wasn't her fault if she couldn't handle pain and she had been nothing but kind to him. And Tiberius knew it was beyond any social codes to rebuke her kindness by being cold towards her. She had helped him when anyone else would have left him for dead, that was deserving of kindness in return.

"You were on your feet until we got inside. Which was really good considering you were impaled. So I would say you're pretty tough." She said it brightly and he felt the hide of his neck warm up slightly. He hadn't remembered much about their trip here. Just that someone kept him upright and that he was in pain. He thought it had been Kaitus getting him safe. "So how do you want me to sit?" She looked at him intently and he paused, thinking for a few moments. He couldn't turn towards her and he didn't want her twisted awkwardly.

"I think the best way is for you to sit across my lap, turned slightly so that the area I need is facing me." That was the best way for her to sit so that he wouldn't tug on his wound and she wouldn't pull a muscle trying to twist her body into position. He gathered up his supplies as his omni-tool rattled of the translation and then watched as she let out a faint little squeak, pressing her hands to her cheeks as they drew darker.

"I think you should buy me dinner first." It blurted out of her and her eyes went wide and she covered her face with a groan. "Oh my _god_! I said that out loud." She sounded embarrassed and Tiberius couldn't help but laugh at just how flustered she looked.

"We can get dinner after. I promise." He flicked his mandibles into a grin, a curious warmth in his chest as he watched her. She was cute. So absolutely adorable it was amazing to see. He didn't understand the warmth inside of him but he decided not to question it too much. She was adorable, it was a statement of fact and he was allowed to say it.

She peeked at him after his translator spit out her language and she hide her face again with another groan. "It's your fault for liking poetry." She muttered it into her palms and his translator almost didn't pick it up. "Stupid and useless romantic." At that he quirked up his forehead plates.

"Nothing wrong with being a romantic and poetry is the language of love. It's rare to find others who enjoy it." He didn't blame her for it. He really didn't because he had the insane urge to take her to the Citadel and take her out for a proper dinner.

She muttered something his translator didn't catch before she let her hands drop with a sigh. "Let's get this done before I stick my _other_ foot in my mouth." Her cheeks were still darker as she shifted and carefully sat on his lap, shifting so that her right ear was facing him. Tiberius blinked rapidly. She was soft, very very soft. There was barely any hardness in her body, especially where she was sitting. It was _so...odd_. Not in a bad way. Just odd.

He picked up the medi-gel and opened it, carefully taking a small amount and making a thin layer behind her ear. It would numb her up enough for him to make the incision. He didn't want her hurting unnecessarily. Once that was done he picked up the scalpel and opened it before opening the translator's case. He reached up and shifted her head slightly. Her skin was warm on his finger tips and it moved against her bones in a rather intriguing fashion. He shook it off as he grabbed the scalpel and made a quick incision. Her blood was bright red and he stared at it for a moment as it rolled down her neck before jolting and grabbing the translator. He inserted it in the cut, pushing it underneath her skin.

She gave a small yelp at that and he winced. "Sorry!" He nearly squawked it out as he fumbled with the medi-gel and squeezed far too much out and slathered it on the cut. "We are done. Do you have a cloth?" The blood had moved rather quickly down the side of her neck and Tiberius blinked as he looked at it. Why had he not noticed it before. His jaw ached suddenly and the urge to bite down on the slim column was intense. He jolted, looking away quickly, his heart thumping hard in his chest. She moved off his lap, hurrying to the kitchen. Sitting up like he was, he could just see her over the back of the couch and he heard water running before she wiped at her neck. He flushed hotly as he found his gaze on it. She had such a lovely neck and the urge to bite down on it hard came back again and he fought down a squawk of embarrassment.

"I hope it is working alright." He said it evenly as he stared at his blankets and there was a moment's pause before she came back.

She slowly sat down beside him before taking a deep inhale. "It's working fine." He glanced at her and her cheeks were dark but she gave him another smile and he felt himself relax. She was beautiful. The thought jolted him but she _was_. She truly was.

_And so the warrior died, never to unleash his claws again, but it was not a death by claws through his neck, but by a beautiful spirit born in a female form._

The love poem rose up in him swiftly and hard and he clamped his jaw tight, unwilling to say it out loud. He didn't know where the urge came from but she made him want to recite poetry and he didn't know what that meant. He cleared his throat. "That is good. Its good that it works properly." She inhaled sharply as he spoke and he immediately looked towards her. She covered her mouth with her fingers, those dark eyes wide as she looked at him. "What?" He felt a bit self-conscious, as if she had been able to read his mind and she blinked, looking away from him and looking suddenly shy.

There was a few moments before she inhaled deeply again. "Don't take this the wrong way." She met his gaze and he swallowed hard at the intensity of it. "You have the most beautiful voice I have ever heard." It blurted out of her and he blinked rapidly at the rather unexpected compliment. " _You spoke with a voice of sunshine and beauty, words turned to poems with your breath and time stopped because I did not wish to miss a moment of you._ " The poem came out of her slightly breathless and Tiberius blinked in shock at the visceral reaction in his stomach that said pin her down and take her throat between his teeth in response to it.

That was not good. Not good at all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Two weeks in**

Beth didn't understand why the Alliance called turians monsters. Maybe Tiberius was different than the rest but she doubted it, she truly did. He was... He was just wonderful. His voice was smooth and it had a delightful flange that made her shiver. He loved poetry and had shared some of the turian poems he had memorized and she was positive she could listen to him recite poetry for literally hours. She had collected some of her own poetry books and had shared them with him as well. He was so easy to talk to and to get along with. 

He was still mostly immobile but he was getting better and that made her happy. She didn't mind taking care of him, he had told her how to make his rations and she had been diligent about making them for him but she could see how he chaffed under not being able to move much. He understood why he couldn't, he had a very nasty wound after all, but she could understand how inaction could be upsetting for him. She at least had some work to be done with her research and she had taken to sitting out in the main room with him, simply existing in the same space as him as she went through her thesis and her research to try and make it coherent enough to publish in some scientific journals. 

However it was getting harder to focus the longer she was around him. Tiberius was... He was honestly everything she could have wanted in a man. It was like someone out there took every little thing that she had ever dreamed of and put them together to make him and then to make things absolutely unfair, they made him turian. She knew her feelings about turians didn't matter, she liked Tiberius and was happy to get to discuss poetry or movies or TV shows with him, but she also knew that outside of their little bubble, there was a hostile world out there. Turians weren't accepted and they were at war. The Alliance hated them and a good portion of humanity did as well. Her feelings about him were a tiny drop of acceptance in a sea of hatred, that didn't stop because she wanted to sigh dreamily at him and curl up next to him every night for the rest of her life. 

She let out a small sigh of defeat. Her mother had always told her that she had to be careful because when she fell she would fall hard and the landing would hurt so much worse. She had a feeling she was starting a freefall towards earth and she couldn't stop herself. The landing would hurt, it would, because they didn't have all the time in the world, they had just shy of eleven weeks together. They were on a time limit. And to that extent there wasn't even a 'them' yet. She hadn't wanted to bring up how she felt about him, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. For all she knew, she just looked like a creepy, weird looking alien. She couldn't say the same for him. His hard lines and his strange form was exciting to her. He looked like art, a statue that was carved to look elegant and honourablr. The lines of his body, while harsh and straight, made him looked more distinguished rather than alien to her. He was alien but there was a part of her that liked it.

"I don't think I could watch another episode of that show." His voice had her eyes nearly fluttering closed and she had to smile at the disgust in his voice. "That is highly problematic behaviour for licensed professionals. They would have been reprimanded and fired if it was in the Hierarchy." He shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked decidedly perturbed and she grinned at him, unable to help herself. Looking at him like he was made her heart flutter in her chest, a strict warning that she was falling too far too fast but she couldn't even begin to want to catch herself. 

"It's dramatic, Tiberius. It's not supposed to be accurate." She gently leaned over and bumped against him gently. "Humans like to exaggerate and play up dramatics to make a show more enjoyable." At her words he shook his head again, his mandibles pulling tighter to his face. 

"The two surgeons had an affair in a supply closet and a patient died. It's just irresponsible at that point. Plain old negligence!" He nearly sputtered and Beth chuckled, unable to stop herself. 

"If there is one thing we can assume about humanity is our love for the dramatic. It creates tension and some people like that. It keeps the show interesting, keeps people interested." Beth wasn't one to actually argue with a point she agreed with, but sometimes she just like started discussions with Tiberius just to see how he felt or simply to listen to him talk. 

"The only thing that would make up for that is if they are both fired." He shook he head, his mandibles no longer as tight to his face and she laughed, unable to help herself. 

"I agree completely. The show is contrived and it's difficult to watch. We don't have to continue watching it if you really don't want too, Tiberius." She shifted in her spot and reached over to grab the tablet, pulling it off the stand before shutting off the ER show. "No worries from me in that department." She glanced at him and flushed when she realized he was staring at her with those absolutely lovely green eyes of his. "Do you want to watch some more?" She lifted the tablet and Tiberius cleared his throat slightly. 

"No, thank you. I think I have had enough of that for a while." At the soft statement she nodded and shut the tablet off completely. She set it aside and then grabbed her research tablet and there was a bit of silence as she studied the nitrogen percentages that she had recorded their last long break. Everything was fairly consistent except for Tombaugh Regio but it was a newer region, so the numbers were off by a fair amount. It was interesting because what they had believed about Pluto's weather had been all wrong. The ice storms were violent and super consistent. They did change the landscape but not as much as scientists had once believed. "What are you looking at?" Tiberius said it in a rather conversational tone and Beth glanced at him before shifting closer. "If you can even tell me." He said it quickly as if worried he had crossed an unspoken line and Beth shook her head. 

"My job is to study nitrogen concentrations in the Tombaugh Regio region and the regions around it. I have to cover a lot of area during the big break and I get a lot of data that I spend the rest of the year filtering and organizing." She turned the tablet to how him. "The Tombaugh Regio region is newer. The ice isn't as compacted so it changes a fair bit so the concentrations of the gasses are all over the place. We are trying to see if this area will settle or if it will continue as it is. We want to see if Pluto's weather has always caused the region to be newer, to not grow old like the rest. We used to call this area Pluto's heartbeat." She pulled up a picture of Pluto, showing off the famous heart shaped place. "This is the area I am studying." She pointed it out before grinning at him. 

"People have always loved Pluto but seeing his heart? Well that solidified a lot of the love he gets. I mean it's adorable that it's there at all. It hasn't changed much either since it was discovered." She shifted the tablet and tucked some of her unruly curls behind her ears so she could lean forward more. "We are currently here." She pointed to the outer rim where the base stations were, "When the defrost happens, my window over looks the Tombaugh Regio region. I like looking out there knowing I'm studying the literal heart of a planet." She smiled as she looked at him and Tiberius was giving her a rather unreadable look. She flushed, unsure of how to react to the look before he blinked, breaking his intense gaze. 

"You enjoy your work, I can tell." He murmured it out as he pointed to the tablet and Beth nodded. 

"The romantic in me likes the idea of trying to learn the secrets of an ancient heartbeat." She gave a small sigh of happiness. She was pathetic, utterly pathetic. The world didn't take kindly to hopeless romantics. 

"It is a noble goal." He said it carefully and she moved the tablet back to her lap. "We fight not for war but for love and to protect the very heartbeat that once enveloped us all." He said it softly and Beth shivered at the poetry. He always had to throw something like that at her and then left her feeling flustered and her heart fluttering in her chest. "To want to study something you find romantic is a noble goal." She nodded slightly and after a few moments she felt him reach out before he grasped her shoulder. She shivered underneath it, his skin was slightly rough but warm and he gave her shoulder a soft squeeze. "There is nothing wrong with being a romantic. No matter what anyone says." Her heart fluttered in her chest as he pulled his hand away. 

She glanced over her shoulder to look at him and he was staring at her intently again and she felt her cheeks flush hotly again. She felt drawn to him, like he was magnetic and she couldn't pull herself away. She found herself leaning towards him, she didn't realize how close they were leaning towards each other until their foreheads brushed and he snapped himself back away from her with an embarrassed sound. She nearly flinched at how he recoiled from her. 

Well then. That wasn't hurtful at all was it? 


End file.
